What is a Gymnastic WOD?

A gymnastics WOD is a CrossFit-style workout that is primarily built around gymnastics movements like pull-ups, push-ups, handstands, or muscle-ups.

Because the emphasis is on good technique and execution, gymnastics WODs are less likely to incorporate heavy compound exercises like the deadlift or squat.

A well-programmed workout will include appropriate progressions (meeting you where you’re at skill-wise) and plenty of rest between efforts.

Unlike with weights, failure is not always the key to getting better at gymnastics exercises–in fact, it may be detrimental.

CrossFit Gymnastic WOD Benefits

Gymnastics exercises benefit you in ways few other things can. Here are some things you’ll gain from adding them into your training:

Core Stabilization– Any gymnastics exercise will force your core to stabilize and maintain a tight position throughout.

Spatial Awareness- Gymnastics teach your body how to move through space efficiently. For example, a perfectly performed kipping pull-up teaches your body how to perform a pull-up with the least amount of energy possible.

Strength– It’s not the same strength you gain with a barbell, but you will get strong all the same. Just watch some Olympic gymnastic athletes on YouTube if you don’t believe it.

Mobility- Unlike compound barbell movements that can make you stiff, gymnastics can actually help mobilize your tissues and help you develop better range of motion in your major joints.

Programming Gymnastics Into Your Training

CrossFit is built on nine fundamental movements, none of which are gymnastics exercises. However, at every level of the sport, you will find gymnastics.

Treat these exercises with equal importance to anything strength or conditioning related in your programming. If you want to be a competitive CrossFitter, they might be more important.

Adding more gymnastics into your training, however, requires some programming know-how.

Unless your goal is to purposely get better at executing exercises while you’re breathing heavily (and you can already rep out an exercise like muscle-ups), you’ll probably want to approach your gymnastics training fresh.

If you’re too tired, you won’t be able to practice technique correctly.

Here are a few options for programming gymnastics into your training.

1. Add Them To Your Warmup

Gymnastics exercises plug into warm-ups seamlessly and can actually help you mimic the exercises you’ll perform later on in the WOD.

For example, handstand push-ups or handstand holds can warm your shoulders up and get you ready to do jerks.

2. Accessory Work

On the opposite end of your training, gymnastics also fit well after the hard work is done.

Give yourself a few minutes to recover from the WOD, then perform ten to fifteen minutes of accessory work on your weakest movements.

3. Extra WOD

Whether you add an extra day to your training (weekend day, for example) or double up one day per week, you can specifically practice gymnastics exercises for thirty minutes or more and probably not compromise your training.

However, be careful. Going to failure often is not ideal here if you want to properly recover, especially early on. Listen to your body and make adjustments if it’s taking away from your normal sessions.

4. EMOMs

There are few better places that you can practice gymnastics exercises than in an EMOM (every minute on the minute interval style workout).

EMOMs allow you to build in recovery time between efforts, which is perfect for gymnastics.

CrossFit Gymnastics Progressions

This means that you honestly assess where you are at with a given movement and then pick exercises, drills, or training styles that will properly challenge you and help you develop.

At any CrossFit gym, you will see people who have been doing CrossFit for years that still can’t do a muscle-up or handstand push-up.

Often times, these same people can deadlift a lot of weight or are some of the better members at the gym. What gives?

First, there’s nothing wrong with this, but the reason they can’t do gymnastics exercises well is simple. They are unwilling to take a step back and progress slowly.

Unless you learn gymnastics at a young age, it’s unlikely that the muscle-up form will come naturally to you. This can be a humbling process.

But if you ever want to swing from the rings like Noah Ohlsen, you have to start small–and it’s all about progressions. Here are some examples.

Muscle-Up Progression

To do a muscle-up, you must be able to do at least one pull-up and one dip. However, once you can do several of each, you’re short changing your development by using these as a substitute each time muscle-ups come up.